A Place To Call Home
by pickledegg
Summary: Six years after ROTS, Leia Organa meets Luke, Darth Vader's son. Six years after that, the two meet again and the game is on.
1. Prologue Part 1

_**A Place To Call Home**_

_Prologue– Part 1_

_**Darth **__Vader is coming… Lord Vader is coming to Alderaan… _

The castle had been whispering for days. Little tidbits had reached young Leia's ears in the weeks following the announcement, curious things like 'Lord Vader didn't eat or drink', or 'He does, in fact, eat but only through a tube' and 'He won't sleep a wink or else he'll get nightmares' (which was rather silly in Leia's opinion, everyone knew that only little girls and boys had nightmares). Some of the servants had also started repeating old wives tales, like that Darth Vader ate little children who didn't eat their vegetables and that Emperor Sidious would snatch you in the middle of the night if you left the windows open in the winter.

Sometimes, Leia would hear her parents arguing about the visit; often times she heard her own name come out of their lips. Mother wanted to send her away, and she was greatly relieved when Father strongly rebutted, saying that it would seem less suspicious if their daughter stayed and didn't disappear. Why Mother wanted to send her away frightened the little girl, had she done something wrong? Didn't Mother love her? Thankfully it seemed that Father had won the disagreement, for no plans were made and no suitcases were packed.

And then the day came.

Leia fidgeted next to Father; the handmaidens had pulled her hair up too tight and she found it difficult to anticipate Darth Vader's landing while trying to ignore the slight pain.

"He's late," she whispered.

Father chuckled, "Lord Vader is never late, he arrives exactly when he plans to."

Leia frowned, if he planned on arriving later than he said then why didn't he just say so instead of making them wait for so long? Her feet were starting to hurt in time with her hair. But she tried to ignore both, she should be grateful for honor of standing besides Father while waiting for Darth Vader. Mother had been against it, Leia had been starting to wonder if throwing tantrums actually got her what she wanted at the time and instead agreed with Mother. It must have impressed her, so Leia reminded herself to try the technique a few more times in the years to come.

After what felt like several more hours (but was probably only twenty minutes or so), a large, dark ship slowly sank into a landing on the platform. The hatch opened and several storm troopers walked out, followed by a figure as large and dark as his ship. Leia gulped when she saw him and she started wishing that Mother had won, she didn't like this man, he had evil all around him, so much that she was surprised that Father didn't see it as well and bolt for the door with herself in tow. Instead, he waited patiently for Darth Vader to cross the tarmac and they shook hands, his expression welcoming, but reserved. Then Darth Vader tilted his helmet in her direction, fear shot through Leia's spine and she gripped Father's hand tighter, but after a few moments she unattached herself from Father and offered her shaking hand up towards Darth Vader. She held her chin high and tried to mask her fear of this man as best she could, she had heard that he could smell fear.

"I'm L-Leia Organa," she introduced as Lord Vader shook her hand.

"My daughter," Father explained, did Leia see a hint of fear in Father's eyes?

"Shall we convene at the Conference Hall?" Darth Vader's monotone, robotic voice was made much creepier with the loud _hoo-purh _of his breathing machine, "We have… much to discuss."

"Of course, My Lord," Father bowed and turned to follow Lord Vader into the palace.

Leia was about to run off into the gardens, when all three of them were stopped in their tracks.

"Father!" a voice called from the large, dark ship and a little boy ran down the tarmac towards them.

He was roughly Leia's own age and height, with cleanly cut light brown hair and big blue eyes. He wore dark robes that he tripped over as he ran into –––Leia realized the situation with a jolt a split second before it happened––– Darth Vader's arms.


	2. Prologue Part 2

_Prologue– Part 2_

**"Who** is this?" the Viceroy looked surprised, worried, and angry all at once, beside him stood a little girl who peered at him curiously.

"My son," Father set him on the ground and placed a protective hand on his shoulder, "Luke."

"Ah," the Viceroy looked uncomfortably at him, "I was… not aware that you had a son, I apologize in advance that we did not prepare a room for him."

"There was no need," Father answered, "He shall be staying on the ship."

"Shall we continue to the Conference Hall, My Lord?" the Viceroy pressed, "Leia can play with your boy."

Luke looked nervously at Leia; she looked excitable, mildly annoying and bratty, but he wanted to talk to her badly. When Father would take him on trips, he made him stay on the ship, he never got to talk to other children or even the older people, Father seemed to think that they would corrupt him.

"That would be agreeable," Father patted Luke on the back and followed the Viceroy.

The two adults retreated into the depths of the castle, leaving the children with two storm troopers Father had assigned to watch them at all times. For the first few moments they studied each other like one might do to an animal behind glass, they had been growing up in an adult's world with little or no contact with children their own age.

But Leia wasn't one for keeping still and patiently wait for someone else to make a move; that was obvious by the way she was bouncing excitedly.

"Wanna go play in my room?" Leia offered, startling him by sticking her head in his face, "I have lots of toys and you'll love my action figures."

Luke nodded and she grinned, taking his arm and pulling him inside the palace.

**"Why** do… we have to… go so fast?" panted Luke as they dashed through main hallway, dodging servants and vases on stilts.

Leia looked behind her, "To ditch the storm troopers, dummy!" Luke followed her line of vision; the storm troopers were far behind. Suddenly, she made a sharp left (nearly smacking him into the wall) up a narrow staircase, that wasn't noticeable unless you were looking for it.

"Oh," he bit his lip and stumbled up the staircase, he wasn't sure if he liked Leia all that much, she enjoyed trouble and wasn't afraid to start it, like the rebels that he was always listening to Father mumble about.

"We're here!" she sang and proudly opened a door into a large white room, "Oh hello Mother."

Luke peered inside and saw the woman Leia had called 'Mother', she sitting in a rocking chair with her arm perched on the windowsill. She smiled when her daughter danced inside; the little crinkles around her eyes and mouth became exaggerated when she did. He was eager to get to know this woman, she looked nice and what he thought a mother should look like, but when he stepped forward her expression changed, confused and worried.

"Who is your friend Leia?" she smiled at him, but it wasn't the same as the one she had given Leia, this one was a bit stiffer and forced.

"This is Luke," she pulled him forward, "He's Darth Vader's son. Can you believe that? Darth Vader has a son!"

"Nice to meet you Luke," Leia's mother said pleasantly, "Now excuse me my dears, and where is your father Leia?"

"In the Conference Hall with Father," Luke answered, why didn't this woman like him?

"Thank you," she picked up her skirts and hurriedly walked out of the room.

Leia walked over to one of the shelves and pulled out a bucket full of action figures. "These are some of the old toys kids used to play with before the Empire," she explained, dumping them all on the ground, "They're mostly Jedi, but there are a few Sith Lords if you look hard enough."

Luke scrunched up his nose, "Jedi are extinct."

"So?" she frowned, "If it bothers you, we can play with something else."

"No it's fine. Where did you get all of these anyway?" he fiddled with a Jedi that had tentacles coming out of his head, "Father says that stuff like this is illegal."

"Father gave them to me, he said that it was a shame that toys had to be wasted, so if anything was confiscated from the public he gave it to me," she explained, "You won't tell right?"

"Cross my heart," Luke liked having a secret, "So now what do you do with them?"

The two children looked at the heap of figurines on the floor. "I like to organize them," Leia said, "But we can play Jedi vs. Sith if you want,"

"Let's organize them," he said quickly, he didn't know the first thing about battles and didn't want to embarrass himself in front of a girl.

"Great," Leia grinned, "We can put all the Obi-Wan's over here, and the Mace Windu's seem to have already gathered over here…"

Luke stopped paying attention and focused his attention on placing the figurines in their correct places. There were so many of them, already 20 Obi-Wan's, and he had never even heard of these people. Well, he'd heard of the Jedi, but never of one of them specifically, it was against the law. If Father found out…

"I wonder if Mother is going to come back," she said absently, making conversation.

"Why doesn't your mother like me?" he asked suddenly, the look she had given him had been bothersome.

Leia looked up and gave him a funny look before shrugging, "She doesn't like your father, maybe it's rubbing off on you too?"

Luke frowned, but didn't reply. He sat down besides Leia and smiled when she showed him the copper arm of the protocol droid and other scrap parts that she kept in another bin, together they messed around with the pieces, but her comment never left him. _Why do people not like Father? _It had been a question that seemed too surreal to ask him, why would anyone dislike Father? He was nice and funny and treated him like his ideas mattered even if he was just a little boy. There had been a time before Father though, sometimes if he thought hard enough and concentrated long enough he could feel sand hitting his face and the hot sun beating down on him, occasionally he'd hear a woman laughing. Luke liked to think that he was remembering his mother before she had died when he heard the woman laughing, but asking Father about that would probably result in him pretending like he hadn't said anything, which would only remind Luke of the terrible truth, that his mother never got to laugh with him while the sun hit their faces and sand swirled around their feet.

"Luke?" she nudged his shoulder, "Are you alright? I'm sorry what I said about Mother not liking your father."

"Don't worry about it," Luke smiled at her weakly, when something caught his eye.

He jumped over to the corner of her room (scattering several Kit Fisto's) where a stout little droid stood. It was white and blue and made funny beeping noises when he it saw him, "You have an astromech droid? That's awesome!"

"Artoo isn't mine, he belongs to Captain Antilles, but we play together. He wanted to see Darth Vader land too, but Father wouldn't let him," Leia explained, while trying to decide if she should put all the Sith in one pile or separate them like the Jedi, "I told Artoo that he could come to my room and I'd tell him all about it!"

The R2 unit made a few more beeps and nudged Luke gently.

"That's Luke, he's Darth Vader's kid," Leia was quick to tell anyone of his origins Luke noticed with some contempt, "Didn't you hear me telling Mother? No? Well Threepio is right about your hearing then," Leia giggled.

Artoo beeped some more and rolled over to Leia's side, she excitedly started recounting the tale that had happened less than an hour ago, Luke followed and went back to kneeling opposite of her. When a figure stood out to him.

"Who's this?" he asked holding it up.

Leia looked up, "Oh that's Anakin Skywalker, his pile is over there." She jerked her head towards the largest pile, "Pretty much non-existent now, but by the look of his pile he was the most popular Jedi amongst the public."

Luke fiddled with the toy, "I wonder what happened to him…"

"He must have died with everyone else," she answered, "Ask your dad, he probably knows. He would know that kind of stuff right?"

Luke shrugged, "I guess, but Father and I don't talk about the Empire, much."

Leia's big brown eye's widened in shock, "Then what do you guys talk about?"

"Droids, he reads me stories at night and sometimes if he's in a good mood he'll tell me about my mother," he sighed, "I don't get to see him that much."

"Oh," Leia looked down, "My father isn't around much either, but at least I have a mother."

Luke looked at the Anakin Skywalker figurine, at least he wasn't blabbing about something she didn't understand, "Lucky you."

She bit her lip, "You can keep him, Anakin, I mean. I have at least a dozen more."

He smiled, "I'd like that."

Luke pocketed his new toy and for the first time in a very long time, he felt wholly happy. No bit of him was saddened the fact that Father was never really around or that he wouldn't have anyone to play with when he'd return to the Imperial City. Maybe he'd be sad when night came or when the storm troopers finally found them and had to supervise them (they'd surely make Leia put away her Jedi toys), but now he got to enjoy a few treasured hours with Leia Organa, Artoo, and the Jedi.


	3. Prologue Part 3

_Prologue- Part 3_

_One Week Later_

**Luke** and Leia walked down the hallway while the two storm troopers followed them from a distance. The sun was setting over Alderaan and Luke had been having a happy week with his first friend, but now he had to return to Coruscant with Father and report to the Emperor.

The Viceroy was standing with Father on the tarmac as the two children skipped into the hangar. The man immediately pulled Leia protectively over to him as soon as she was in arms length, but that didn't stop her from hugging him good-bye.

"I hope to see you again someday," she grinned.

"Me too," Luke replied before being pulled onto the ship by Father.

The ships hatch sealed and Father walked with him to his room aboard the ship.

"I have to meet with the Emperor," he informed, "But afterwards we can play a game."

Luke nodded eagerly and sat on his bed, patiently waiting for Father to return. After an hour, he grew restless; Father's meetings with the Emperor never took this long if they were using holo's to communicate (the Emperor was paranoid that someone could listen in). He took it upon himself to find Father and stepped cautiously into the hall, Father's chambers were just across the hall from his, but the conference room was two floors above them, so he had to be quick and sneaky to make sure no one would see him. It was no secret that Darth Vader had a son– even the Emperor knew about his existence, though Father hadn't wanted him to in the first place for reasons Luke had yet to figure out– but if he was caught, one of the workers aboard the ship might send him back to his room.

Luke turned the corner and was about to walk into the conference room when he heard voices. He resided back into the shadows, curious about what was going on inside.

"––– Alderaan?" the Emperor croaked.

"I saw no signs of a rebellion," Father replied, "But Bail is hiding something."

"And you couldn't find out?" a cold anger crept into the Emperors voice, "I thought you are better than that, my apprentice."

"I am sorry My Lord," Father sighed, "But Bail has a much stronger and more protected mind than I originally thought, it is hard to break into."

The Emperor didn't say a word for a few moments. "How's the boy?" he barked, "Is his training going well?"

"Very well, My Lord," Father said cautiously, "He pays attention, but he is much weaker than we would have thought."

Luke frowned, what training? Father hadn't trained him for anything.

"Really?" the Emperor sounded bored, but a little surprised, "With you as his father I expected better."

"As did I."

"We shall converse more about the subject when you return to Coruscant," the conference room became silent.

Luke hid further into the shadows as Father walked out of the room, too embarrassed to explain what he had heard.

"I know you're there Luke," Father turned towards him.

He jumped up, "Sorry Father, I shouldn't have been eavesdropping."

"What did you hear?"

"Something about Alderaan, and then about training? What training?"

"That was nothing," Father shook his head, "Ignore it."

Luke furrowed his brow, "Alright."

He walked a little behind Father and couldn't help noticing him try to pocket a document that fell onto the ground. Luke picked it up and was about to hand it back to Father when he noticed the words on the top.

**ALDERAAN: TERMINATE**

"Here you go Father," with shaking hands Luke handed the document back to Father.

"Thank you," he said without noticing, "Now what game would you like to play?"

* * *

><p><strong>an: It was difficult to write this chapter and get the plot started while keeping it in Luke or Leia's POV. I apologize for the sloppiness. **


	4. Chapter 1

_Chapter 1_

_Six Years Later_

**"Coruscant," **Leia said, staring out at the Imperial City, the word felt metallic and unwelcome on her tongue.

It had taken much of Leia's time to convince Father to let her come with him. He had been opposed and Leia saying that Mother wouldn't want her to be alone for weeks hadn't helped matters much. Mother had died less than a year ago of a mysterious disease that could be linked to poison on the edge of her glass. The poisoning had made tensions with the Corellians even thinner; everyone blamed the ruffian planet for the death of their queen, even Leia. After days of endless nagging, Father saw that Leia accompany him to Coruscant,

"It's beautiful isn't it?" Father appeared beside her.

Leia bit her lip, Coruscant was always on the forefront of technology and fashion with peculiar buildings and an interesting array of inhabitants, but it was far from beautiful in her eyes, "That's not how I would describe it."

"I meant the sunset," Father corrected.

"It's very nice," she grinned, Coruscant's sunset was a peculiar sight, the feeling of warmth and home the sun gave her, made a backdrop for the cold glow of the buildings that rose into the sky like smoke.

"I have my last senate meeting in 30 minutes," Father sighed, checking the large clock of their apartment in the Alderaanian Embassy.

"Can I come with you?" Leia asked eagerly, Father was reluctant letting her go anywhere in the shady city and though politics bored her, she had been stuck inside for most of their trip, she'd be willing to do anything as long as it meant a trip outside.

Father weighed the options in his head, Leia could see that in his expression; Let Leia go and she would have a taste of the real world and an experience for what she should expect when she became a ruler of Alderaan, don't let Leia go and he could further protect her from the dangers of Coruscant.

"Grab your coat," he finally decided, "Coruscant is chilly at night."

"Yes!" she cried, finally a little excitement on their last day of Coruscant, "Threepio? Where's my coat?"

**The **Senate Building was just as cold as the other building, but squatter, like a teapot surrounded by champagne glasses. It was full of hallways that lead to rooms and several hallways lead to one place. Father had directed her into the Nubian wing as a shortcut to Alderaan's box, when an open door distracted Leia; from the short glimpse she saw that it was full of portraits and statues.

"Father, what is that?" she asked, her eyes still looking at the room.

"Naboo, being the birthplace and home planet of the Emperor, is widely respected," Father replied, "They have a gallery in the senate building."

"Can we go inside?" she asked, still in an odd sort of trance, "It's drawing me inside."

"Alright," Father said reluctantly and followed her inside.

The gallery was filled with items from Naboo, mostly replicas of portraits of their monarchs and statues that filled the capital city of Theed. The monarchs looked like ghosts staring at her, their eyes creating the illusion of following someone who was looking at them. Leiastudied the portraits of past queens; they were all very beautiful… and very young. What the Naboo were thinking when they elected girls not much older than she, herself to rule their planet was beyond Leia when she stared at Queen Apailana, who had ascended to the throne when she was just twelve. Leia tried to imagine what it was like to rule a planet while still a child, she knew that someday she would become Alderaan's queen, but it seemed more like playing pretend than an actual job she would have to perform.

"She died when she was only fourteen," Leia gasped as she read the caption below. To her, dying was still a faraway event that only happened to the elderly and the sick, not to healthy, young girls.

"It was very tragic," Father sighed, "Another one of Naboo's beloved and brave queen killed at such a young age and so soon after the other."

"It must be a curse to be a queen of Naboo," Leia joked lightheartedly, but her smile faded when she saw Father's grim expression.

"The meeting is starting," he informed, "Would you like to stay here and look around?"

She nodded her head vigorously, "I promise that I won't leave this room."

Father walked out of the room and into Alderaan's box, leaving Leia to explore the secrets of Naboo. She continued walking around and studying the portraits and statues with curiosity, when more footsteps could be heard coming inside. Leia could hear the _hoo-purh _before he even entered the room, her stomach rumbled with childhood fear that hadn't left (and probably never will). Like a small animal hiding from its predator, she ran behind a conveniently placed plant in the corner of the room before Darth Vader had a chance to spot her.


	5. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2_

**Darth **Vader hulked into Naboo's gallery; he had avoided the room until Luke had been found. After that he felt compelled to bring him to see his mother, though he made sure he never visited more than necessary. He had also started wishing that he had kept copies of the holos and recordings Artoo had safely tucked away in his system, Luke would have enjoyed them. Vader knew that his son was hungry for information about his mother and the occasional visits to see an outdated picture of her wouldn't satisfy him much longer.

So why was he going to visit her twice this month? Vader had no answer, but as he walked passed the room on the way to the senate he felt a peculiar tug that lead him inside. Almost immediately he saw a dark flash of hair disappear behind a plant, obviously he wasn't along, but whoever was in the corner was no threat to his safely, so he decided to ignore them and instead he focused on the tug.

He found himself in front of Padmé's portrait and as per usual he felt guilt, sadness, and longing curl up in his heart, it was incredibly distracting. After another minute or five, he grew annoyed with the being behind the plant.

"I know you're there," he barked.

A small human shot up, she was about the same size as Luke and was trembling. Darth Vader felt the peculiar tug of the Force again.

I'm sorry my Lord," she said, keeping her chin high and back straight even when clearly terrified.

Princess Leia he remembered, Luke talked about her often and it was hard to ignore the news about her that popped up everywhere about her many accomplishments in the past few years.

"Why aren't you with your father?" he asked.

"The Senate is boring," she said after a few moments of pondering.

And yet, according to the news, many of her accomplishments were in the field of diplomacy.

"–– –It's just a bunch of being's arguing about unimportant things, when more troubling things need to be discussed," she continued, oddly truthful, "But it's not like the Senate has any real power, they're just there so people will think the galaxy is still a republic even though it's really a dictator–––" Leia gasped and bowed, "I'm sorry My Lord, I didn't mean any disrespect." She faltered on the last word, she obviously meant to disrespect, but Vader didn't care; the Emperor wasn't very high on his "Favorite People" list, though he might be interested to hear the ideas the Viceroy had planted in the girl's head.

"I'll let it pass," he decreed after a moment, she looked relieved, but she was also confused.

Leia smiled weakly, "Thank you, I–"

"Father?" Vader turned around and saw Luke walking into the room.

"Luke!" the girl grinned and ran over to his son, "What are you doing here?"

"My father works here," Luke replied bluntly, "I should be asking what _you're _doing here."

Leia laughed, "My father works here too you know."

"I didn't."

Her smile faded, "Luke? What's wrong? Is––"

"Father, the Emperor requests you be present at his office in ten minutes," his son cut her off again." Darth Vader's concern grew too, Luke seemed vacant, his blue eyes were dull and he had been afraid when he saw Leia, most unlike him.

On a side, what did the Emperor want? He hadn't been present at the senate meeting of course, but he rarely attended anyway unless absolutely mandatory. Vader was unwilling to leave Luke in such a state, but the long-term consequences of not seeing the Emperor when asked would be much worse than having to leave him for an hour or so.

As Vader left he caught Luke's eyes boring into him, a mix of hate, betrayal, and confusion rushing over him in a wave, making it hard to block. Luke was a lot stronger than he let the Emperor realize.


	6. Chapter 3

_Chapter 3_

**Luke **throat went dry when he saw Leia talking to Father, he had kept his discovery a secret for six very long years from her, as well as the rest of Alderaan and Father, the Emperor probably did know he knew though, but here was no telling with the old crone. He knew that the Emperor wanted to talk to Father about Alderaan's impending doom, the Emperor had been obvious about it when he told him to go get Father– among other things. Luke scowled at the recent memory.

After Father left, Leia gripped his shoulder, "Luke, tell me, what's wrong?"

He shook his head, "I-I can't."

Wrong answer. Her grip became steel and face determined, "You _will _tell me. It's not good for someone to keep their emotions all inside of them."

Luke sighed, "Okay, but not here, we might be overheard."

Leia's eyes sparked with excitement, she was, no doubt, running through the possible secrets he might have to share with her. Secrets that couldn't be overheard drew in listeners even better than honey did a fly. He took her hand and lead her through the senate building, at first she had seemed someone unwilling to stray far from the room, but curiosity pushed any doubts away once they made it to the elevator and were heading up to one of the upper levels.

"Are you sure no one will see us here?" she asked as he pulled her into the main hangar, "Or hear us?" She looked around suspiciously.

"No, there are security cameras, but I know where they are and they can't record sound," Luke assured, "The only ones in the entire building that can't."

He situated her in one of the shadowy corners, behind a large, beat-up ship that really had no place among the sleek vessels of the senators. Taking a deep breath and making sure there was no one milling about he turned to Leia.

"Are you sure you want to know?" he flinched slightly at her bright, excited face when she nodded.

"Of course I do dummy!" she replied, "I wouldn't have come all this way if I didn't want to know."

"Six-years-ago-I-saw-a-report-that-my-father-dropped-and-it-said-that-Alderaan-is-going-to-be-terminated-the-Emperor-has-been-implying-for-weeks-that-it-could-possibly-be-happening-soon," Luke took a deep breath, "I'm-sorry-I-haven't-told-you-until-now!" He scrunched his eyes closed and steeled himself for Leia's wrath.

After a few moments of silence, he opened one eye and saw her dumfounded expression. "If you're going to punch me, I'd like you to know that'd I like to keep my teeth," he said weakly.

Slowly she comprehended what he had said and her expression changed from blank confusion to rage. "MY PLANET IS GOING TO BE DESTROYED AND YOU CONVENIANTLY WAITED UNTIL _TODAY _TO TELL ME?" she shrieked, tackling him.

"Please be quiet," he flinched as Leia raised her fist.

"Why didn't tell me sooner!" she cried, "Or better yet, told my dad!"

Her fist slammed into his face, it hurt. A lot.

"How would I be able to contact your dad?" he replied, "I was only six!"

"So? Why didn't you confront your father then!" she yelled, "If he's as great as you told me then why is he completely okay with committing genocide against a peaceful people!"

That was it, Leia could hit him all she wanted, but she would not insult Father. "Aargh!" Luke shouted, shoving her off him, "My father's a great man! It wasn't even his idea; it was the Emperor's! And you know that know one crosses the Emperor!"

"A great man?" Leia cried, "Do you know the crimes he's committed and will commit for your precious Emperor?"

Anger boiled beneath Luke's skin, he raised his fist, but her face stopped him; it was full of disgust. _Well she hit you first, insulted Father and mocked the Emperor_, part of him reasoned, _If she thought you wouldn't defend yourself than that's her problem. _

"I wasn't really going to hit you Leia," he sighed, dropping his clenched fist.

The disgust didn't leave her face; instead of responding she leaped on him and covered his mouth with her hand.

"What are you doing?" his distorted voice asked.

"Shut up Luke," she hissed and turned him to see what she was seeing.

Entering the beat up ship was a young man, he looked excited and just a tad scared as he ran up the hatch that they hadn't noticed had opened with two boxes in his hands.

"Fire up the _Falcon_," he shouted to an invisible someone, "We have to hurry before Lando notices!"

A few howls and a bark answered.

"I'm sure it's working now Chewie, just start it!"

"They're smugglers," Leia whispered, "I saw him on a wanted poster."

"What are they doing in a restricted hangar?" Luke asked, pulling her hand from his mouth, dumfounded at their stupidity.

"I don't know, why don't you ask them?"

A bang came up from the ship. Leia screamed in surprise and Luke toppled over, bringing her down with him. The man came back down the ship. He looked around and pinpointed on them.

"Well, well," he walked over, "What do we have here?" He plucked up Leia.

"Get your hands off me laser-brain!" she cried, trying to slap him, but Luke held her back; Leia's wrath might be too much for him, "And wait until I tell my father that there are smugglers in a restricted hangar!"

The creature that had barked in response came down too; it was large, hairy, smelly, and a bit terrifying to look at. The man looked at his companion and back at them, he was smirking.

"Ah, well you see kiddo, I've got no intention of getting' caught," his smirk turned into a cocky grin, "Now run along and leave me be while I escape the system."

"I'm afraid I can't do that," Leia narrowed her eyes, "Surrender now or I _will_ call my father and half the senate down here."

Now he started chuckling, Luke felt uneasy and tried to pull her away, but the man caught his wrist, "Now, now don't go runnin' to daddy."

"If you knew who my father was you wouldn't be quite so brave," he said, more courageous than he felt.

"And, who is he exactly?" the man replied tauntingly.

"Darth Vader."

The young man paled slightly, but then his face became greedy, "Oh really? Well. I'm sure his lordliness would be more than happy to lend me a hand in exchange for his son. Chewie grab him!"

Before Luke could run away, the large hairy creature hulked in front of him. It barked something to which the man responded, "Well, if you don't wanna grab him, then you should've thoughta that before you joined my crew." The beast rolled its eyes, but grabbed his wrist. It barked again.

"The girl?" the man looked at her, "Might as well bring her along, sounds like her dads rich too."

"You'll never get off of Coruscant if you carry on like this!" Leia shrieked as the creature named 'Chewie' grabbed her too, "Someone will notice that we're gone!"

"Brilliant, then the reward will be even higher than I imagined!"

* * *

><p><strong>an: I've always imagined Han to be incredibly reckless and even more of a jerk when he's a young adult. *shrugs***


	7. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

**On **the bright side the man, named Han of all things, didn't hurt them. He did, on the other hand, throw them into an empty room and locked the door behind him. Leia had been so worked up about being kidnapped that she was having trouble staying mad at Luke as well, but she'd be able to make up for that as soon as Father bought her freedom and then she'd tell him all about the Emperor's plan and then he would be able to get rid of their dictator and bring the galaxy back to the republic it once was.

She looked over at Luke who was curled up in the corner frowning, at least she didn't have deal with this alone even if it was with the last person she wanted to be with right now. Besides Han, and Darth Vader, and the Emperor of course, alright, Luke wasn't the last person she wanted to be with, but he still had neglected to tell her some very important information for six years. Her eyes darted back to her light haired comrade, she noticed that he was fiddling with something.

"What's that?" she asked scooting over.

He held up a figurine, its paint had started peeling off, but it was undoubtedly the same toy she had given him years ago. In spite of herself she felt a smile come to her lips, "You still have that?"

Luke nodded, "Yeah, Dad doesn't know, he'd probably take it away if he did, but I keep with me, it makes me feel better."

Leia sighed, when she had turned ten, Mother had decided that it was time for her to be a princess not a tomboy. She had been forced to throw out all her old Jedi toys, it was nice to know that at least one of them had made it out alive. As she studied Luke's toy, an idea popped into her head.

"That's it!" she cried jumping up.

Luke stared up at her like she had gone mad, "Umm… what's it?"

"Anakin! He can help us! Oh this couldn't have worked out any less perfectly!" she danced around a little bit, "We can contact Anakin, or any Jedi really, and have them rescue us!"

"We don't need any rescuing Leia," Luke pointed out, "We probably haven't even traveled past the core planets, Han's probably just going in a circle waiting for our parents to send out a reward for us, and we've only been in here, what? A day, probably less? Anyway, all the Jedi are dead."

"Not all of them, that would have been impossible, I bet that there's at least one out there who can rescue us!" Leia insisted.

"Okay say there is a Jedi wandering through the galaxy unnoticed, then what?" he still stared at her like she was crazy, "It's not like their going to send up a flare saying 'Hey all! I'm a Jedi! Wanna get some coffee?'"

"And as far as I've read, Anakin was one of the best Jedi there was, I'm sure that he'd be able to escape," she continued, ignoring him, "If he's alive then there's hope that another Jedi could still be alive!" _And then they could ally with Father and help take down the Emperor and Alderaan would be saved_, Leia thought happily.

Luke frowned, he didn't like the idea of there being Jedi still alive, toys were fine, but an actual Jedi would be dangerous. "Listen to me, we've been kidnapped for a day, our parents probably sent out their best to try and find us hours ago, we'll be found in no time," he repeated, "Han is greedy enough to take us back to Coruscant as soon as they post a reward for our return, I estimate that we'll be out here in less than two days, no need for a Jedi's help, assuming Mr. Skywalker is actually out there."

Leia's smile twisted into a frown, "Well then Mr. Optimistic, did you think about the fact that once Han returns us to our respective parent he'll also probably get pardoned of all his crimes? He's on a wanted poster Luke and he said your father could help him, that's bad."

"Look Leia, I don't want to stay here any longer than we have to," Luke rolled his eyes, "Repeat after me: there is no need for help!"

She opened her mouth to make a sharp retort, but was sent skidding across the floor alongside Luke as the ship jolted to a stop.

"Aw, sh–" Han's curse was cut off by a wookie yowl.

"What the heck?" Luke cried, trying to twist back into a normal position.

The door clicked and swooshed open. Han stood with an angry look on his face and a glare in his eye, "Come on, we've gotta hurry."

He grabbed Luke and Leia and dragged them out into the main hall. "We were hit by a stray laser from an Imperial ship," he explained.

Luke looked up and mouthed, 'Dad' to Leia, who frowned at him.

"It took out our hyperdrive," Han continued, "And tore a chunk out of our portside, Chewie's got the shields up so we'll be protected from the oxygen sucking space, but they won't last for long."

Leia was shoved into the cockpit with Luke right behind her. Chewbacca growled a greeting or was trying to tell them to hurry up. Han sat down besides his co-pilot and pressed a button to return the ship to manual piloting.

"Where are we going?" Luke asked, "Can't we just go with Da– the Imperials?"

Han shook his head, "I've got some business to attend to on Naboo before I go 'round returnin' kids to their daddy's."

Leia quirked an eyebrow, they were near Naboo? Han was also being suicidal, even if they did make it to Naboo without completely destroying the ship or having the shields go down and suffocating all of them to death, what would they do next? Naboo was a supporter of the empire and Luke was a well-known face throughout the system, he'd be recognized immediately and Han would be detained and put to trial for kidnapping and other crimes he might have committed. Now that she thought about it though, that didn't sound so bad.

The _Millennium Falcon _entered Naboo's atmosphere and Leia squeezed her eyes shut, sure that this ship wouldn't be able to hold together and that this was the end and pulled Luke close, regretting having given him a black eye and shunning him for most of their terrible trip when they touched down. They landed on the swampy, forest ground (rather smoothly for such a bone-rattling entrance) and she could release Luke safely.

The hatch opened and they shakily walked onto the squishy ground.

"Now I don't want any runnin'," Han said, "You two are gonna stay with me and Chewie while we try to find a new parts and… attend to business." The man waved around his blaster for emphasis.

"Fine," Luke muttered for both of them.

Leia was actually quite fine with following this once feared buffoon; he would lead them to civilization. Civilization meant libraries and records, which meant she could find a Jedi to help her, even if they were on an Imperial planet. This unexpected trip could be a great thing after all.


	8. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

**Luke **hated Naboo.

Hate was a strong word and maybe not quite appropriate, he _disliked _Naboo from what he'd seen of it so far, which was admittedly very little. The little he'd seen had been a swampy mess though, with insects picking at his skin and mud swallowing his feet whole. Han wouldn't let them stop until they reached Theed, which he insisted was only an hour away… about three hours ago.

"We would be there by now," he said, "If you kids hadn't been raised as kings and queens!"

Luke didn't have a reply to that, as he was equally sure that was the reason they weren't there yet. Leia on the other hand seemed offended by the proposal and insisted that the reason they hadn't gotten there was because Han "had gotten them lost with that thick head of his", she hadn't taken to being kidnapped very well. Luke felt like he was missing a chunk of something (the brain maybe?) when he considered their kidnapping. He supposed that he should be afraid and hate Han as much as Leia did, but for the first time in a long while, Luke felt relatively free, Father wasn't breathing down his neck and protecting him from the "dangers" of the galaxy. Recently, Luke had started to feel a little afraid of Father, the Emperor certainly hadn't helped, instead he gave him a new horrifying piece of information about Father every time they met; just this morning for instance, Luke had learned that Father had slaughtered a room full of younglings, the Emperor cackled when he threw up all over the carpet. _If Father would willingly slaughter children, _he had thought, _Then what's stopping him from killing me? _

"Augh!" he cried as he tripped over a protruding root and tumbled through a tangle of plants.

Dazed, Luke shook his head and looked around, he was sitting on something hard, not soft like the mud he had been walking on. It was a street that rest in a nearly empty clearing in the outskirts of a beautiful city … Theed! He recognized it from holo's he'd seen.

"Luke! Luke!" Leia cried and crashed through the opening he had created, "Are you alright? Anything hurt?" She pulled him and brushed the dirt off his tunic.

"I'm fine Leia," he assured, "Just a little bruised, but look, Theed!"

Leia's eyes widened, "Oh…wow…"

"Where are Han and Chewie?" Luke's question snapped Leia out of her wonderment.

"We'll have to hurry," she said, taking his hand and pulling him towards the city.

"What about Ha–"

"We aren't Han's slaves," she snapped, "We don't have to do what he says, anyway I have my _own _agenda."

Luke rolled his eyes, ah yes, her "brilliant" plan, but he supposed she was right about the whole slave thing though and he wasn't really looking forward to following the young man for much longer.

* * *

><p><strong>Leia <strong>stopped in front of a large palace that loomed over the city.

"Are you sure we'll be allowed inside?" Luke asked, skeptically looking at their mud splattered and sweaty clothes.

"Just watch," she watched a group of school children walking up the grand staircase. She winked at him before attaching herself to the end of the group; Luke hurried to follow suite. The security guard at the entrance frowned at them slightly, but didn't say anything or refuse to let them enter the building.

Once inside, Leia dragged Luke in the opposite direction of the school children.

"The Hall of Records is down this corridor," she whispered, "I went here once with my dad."

Luke nodded, barely listening; instead he was staring at the portraits on the walls, trying to find one of a familiar face. This was his chance to finally see an actual picture of Mother, instead of the painted up ghost of her in the Naboo Gallery on Coruscant.

Leia led him into a large room, filled with floor to ceiling shelves full of little blocks of images that held the history of Naboo and it's residents.

"Let's see," she mumbled to herself, "Jedi… 'J'."

The 'J' section had few records of Jedi, some may have been destroyed, but Luke was sure that it was just because Naboo was a peaceful planet and had needed little assistance from them in the Republic era. Leia grabbed them all and went to the computers to plug the cubes in and read their contents.

"Qui-Gon Jinn," Leia squinted, "He looks like he'd be a good candidate… 'Helped the Naboo take back control of their planet from the Trade Federation…' Oh wait… here's a clip of his funeral."

Luke sighed and took the cube from her to return to the shelf, before settling in to listen to Leia read the next holo.

"'Jedi Padawan Anakin Skywalker, age 19 of Tatooine, with Senator Padmé Amidala days before the start of the Clone Wars' blah, blah, blah," Leia scanned the rest of the page, "The rest of this is just about the Senator's rise in the republic… Hmm, maybe I can find out more about Skywalker…"

"Wait, who?" Luke's head perked up, he had been on the verge of taking some well-needed rest for the past three cubes.

"Anakin Skywalker," she quirked an eyebrow, "Haven't you been listening?"

"No, no," he shook his head, he knew full well that Leia wanted Anakin to be the Jedi to help her. He had become sick of her slipping in his name every other sentence she spoke about Jedi, as if talking about him enough would bring him back from the dead, "Who was the senator?"

"Padmé Amidala?"

"She was my mother," he whispered, studying a holo of her at the end of the article, it had been taken when she was… twenty-four, she was beautiful and looked happier than she did in her portrait, even though she was about ten years older. She looked slightly familiar, but Luke didn't dwell on it, he was too focused on memorizing every inch of her face.

Leia's eyebrows nearly shot off her face, "That's impossible, I've read loads of biographies about her and not one states that she was married, much less pregnant."

"Well my father said that she was my mother and why would he lie to me about that?" Luke pointed out.

"I guess…" she looked like she didn't want to hurt his feelings. "You know what?" she changed the subject, "I'm going to Tatooine to find Anakin."

"How do you plan on getting to Tatooine?" Luke snorted, "It's on the outer rim in Hutt space, I doubt you'll find many people willing to take you." He rolled his blue eyes again; Leia was insane, going nearly off the grid just on a _hunch_ that some Jedi might have survived.

"I'll figure it out," she snapped, "I'll steal a ship if I have to, the answer is on Tatooine, Luke, I have to go, my planet is depending on me."

"Well I won't let you go there alone," he sighed, "Tatooine is gritty, it could be dangerous even for the two of us."

"Did you really think that I would let you out of my sight?" Leia smirked, "I can't blab my plan to Darth Vader's kid and expect him not to tell on me."

* * *

><p><strong>"Damn <strong>kids," Han swore as he and Chewie trampled through the swamp, "They aren't gonna be able to run for long though, on those punny legs."

The wookiee barked a few lines of a dialect unintelligible to most, understanding a wookie was one of the few things Han could boast about freely without worrying about who would overhear.

"Yeah, yeah Chewie," he growled, "I know she'll be mad if she finds out we lost 'em, but here's the thing, she doesn't hafta know if we find 'em, so get to lookin'!"

* * *

><p><strong>an: Thanks for all the lovely reviews! I'm flattered. (:**


	9. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 

**Han **was muddy and soaking. Han hadn't slept in two days. Han had a deadline to meet in approximately two minutes. Han wasn't happy.

He slipped into the dark alleyway alone, Chewie had stayed to repair the _Millennium Falcon_, she hadn't actually been damaged beyond a few minutes of repair by the stray Imperial laser, but the crash landing that had become very real in the last few moments had taken its toll. He took a few nervous breaths as he sat on a bench waiting for his client to appear, he had never come short for a client before, but those kids were crafty.

A slight, hooded figure walked towards him from the shadows. Pulling back her hood, she revealed dark brown hair streaked with grey, she was jittery, not used to even Theed's "criminal" underbelly, and afraid of being seen, but her eyes narrowed when she saw Han sitting by himself and a frown embedded itself on her face.

"Where are they?" she hissed.

"Ah, well you see…" Han started, "…There was a mix-up on the way here and I kinda lost 'em?"

"You lost them?" the client squeaked.

"Yes," he replied growing more confident, he didn't know what he had been so worried about, this client obviously hadn't the slightest idea of how to intimidate a criminal like him, much less hurt him profusely.

Before Han could really figure out what was going on, the woman's hand shot into her robes and she procured a blaster. Her finger trembled for a moment and she pulled the trigger.

"What the–" was all he could utter before crumpling on the ground.

* * *

><p><strong>Bail <strong>Organa strode down the hallway to his small home on Coruscant. His heart had been weighted down with fear and worry for his daughter who had been gone for a day, soon to be two. He was sure that she was fine; there was no reason that she shouldn't be. Leia was strong and resourceful and had a knack for getting her way in things.

He stepped into his office and slumped into his chair, looking sorrowfully at a photo of Breha and Leia on her tenth birthday, or what she thought was her tenth birthday, if things had been different, she would have celebrated turning ten two months later.

"Oh Breha," he sighed, "You'd know what to do." Bail missed his late wife –that should have gone without saying. Often times she could succeed where he failed when it came to Leia and the feeling hadn't stopped since she passed away.

"Where is he Viceroy?"

It took all the willpower Bail had to keep himself from jumping out of his skin as Darth Vader materialized from the shadowy corners of his dark office.

"My Lord?" he asked, "Can I help you?" Rising from his chair.

"Where is he?" the encased man hissed, "Where is Luke?"

"I don't know," Bail replied, calmer than he felt, "Why are you in my home and not searching for your son?"

"Because, you were _her_ friend," the objects on his desk started to tremble slightly, "Because, I know you were surprised when you saw him. Because, I know you thought he was somewhere else. So tell me Viceroy, where is he?"

He paled slightly, "Why would I kidnap your son when I have my own daughter to look for?"

"Your daughter is missing?" Vader seemed surprised, but it appeared to only reinforce his suspicions, "I knew your family was behind this."

"How is this Leia's fault?" the Viceroy asked through gritted teeth.

"She's been a bad influence on my boy, for the past six years he's been babbling about her and she's been putting ideas into his head," the Dark Lord replied, "About the Jedi, about the Empire."

"What if those ideas were put in his head by the things that he has seen, the things that he has heard?" Bail countered, few people were suicidal enough to start a fight with Darth Vader, he was angry and frustrated and worried, not the best mix of emotions if one wants to be rational.

"She has corrupted him!" Vader roared, pounding his fist in Bail's desk and leaving a rather impressive dent, "And she will pay."

"You can't hurt her, she's y–" Bail stopped himself in horror, realizing what he had been about to say in his anger, "She's just a child!" he remedied, "And so is Luke."

The Sith lord did not respond. Bail felt his breath catch in his throat; had he heard that accursed vowel? Vader wasn't any less cruel to a child that he was to an adult, his thoughts pointed out, cruel images popped into his minds eye.

"She's only twelve," he said again, "She couldn't have masterminded a kidnapping that resulted in her being taken too! If you ask me, Luke and Leia were abducted together."

"You're hiding something Viceroy," Vader declared before leaving the office, his black cape swirling behind him as he exited the apartment.

Bail fell back into his chair and put his head in his hands. A single question bounced back and forth off his skull; what had happened to Leia?

* * *

><p><strong>Han <strong>blinked his eyes open. He was lying on an unfamiliar couch in a tidy, unfamiliar room.

"You're up," a woman's voice said, "I was beginning to worry."

The sound of floorboards creaking followed and the woman appeared behind the couch. It was most definitely his client, an unwelcome bubble of fear appeared in his stomach, she couldn't be very happy with his failure. Aargh! Why had he ditched Lando on Coruscant? He could distract her, when she did whatever she was planning to do and he and Chewie could– Chewbacca! Where was he? Maybe he had his com with him…

"Well sit up," the woman interrupted his thoughts, "You're perfectly fine, I'm sorry I had to stun you, but it was the only way to get you to my house without you running away."

"Yeah, umm… Why exactly am I at your house?" Han had no connections with this woman, he only knew that she wanted those two brats and that she was willing to pay him mighty well for it too.

"You're my only link to the underground," she said, "I _need_ those children and you're going to help me, I haven't exactly fired you from your current job anyway."

"Uh huh," this lady was crazy, "You do realize that Luke– the kids father is Darth Vader? Sithspit, I'm probably on his most wanted list now." He should've returned 'em to their respective fathers and collected the reward; it would have been better than the supposed riches the crazy lady had promised him.

"Darth Vader isn't the boys father," she shook her head.

"Of course he isn't," Han rolled his eyes.

"I knew their father," sadness washed over the woman's tired features, "And he's dead."

"Ah," the young man didn't know what to say to that, "Who are you anyway?"

"I'm Sola Naberrie, Luke and Leia's aunt," Sola answered, "Pleased to officially meet you." She stuck out her hand, which a horribly confused Han shook.

* * *

><p><em>Two Weeks Earlier<em>

**Sola **Naberrie wasn't a criminal, she didn't associate with criminals… until now and she had taken great pains to locate this one.

Squaring her shoulders and lifting her chin, she walked into the small, dingy restaurant that she hadn't even known existed, on the outskirts of Theed, feeling (and hopefully looking) braver than she really was. She walked up to a young man with his feet kicked up on the table while reading a newspaper, a large wookiee sat beside him.

"Are you Han Solo?" she had been practicing this moment for days.

"Who wants to know?" the youth –not much older than Ryoo– smirked after looking her up and down over the edge of his paper.

"I want to know," she sat down opposite him and reached into the recesses of her cloak, producing two small pictures and set them on the table, "I hear that you can find people?"

"I'm afraid you're lookin' for a bounty hunter," he folded the newspaper and set it on the table before standing up.

"Wait– Wait!" Sola was desperate to find them and she didn't have time or resources to track down a bounty hunter, "I'll pay you, more than you can imagine!"

Han turned on his heel and quirked an eyebrow, "Are you sure you can pay? 'Cause I can imagine quite a bit."

She bit her lip and nodded, she had been given most of her sisters fortune after her untimely death, surely it would pay whatever this oaf would suggest and Padmé wouldn't protest to spending it on finding her children if she had any input on the matter, "I can pay you half before you leave, and the rest when you give me the children."

The man sat down again and inspected the photos, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! I don't kidnap children."

Sola crossed her arms, "You'll earn more here than you can with all your other jobs put together." _Hopefully…_

He tilted his head back and forth and finally nodded, "Alright, now where can I find 'em?"

"They will both be on Coruscant in two weeks," she informed, "I have the access codes to the hangars in the Senate Building, their supposed father's work there on occasion."

"My buddy Lando won't mind goin' to a fancy place like Coruscant," he approved, "One question though, why aren't you doin' this yourself?"

"Do you want my credits or not?" she frowned; money appeared to be the driving force behind this smuggler.

"Alright, alright," Han relented, "You got yourself a deal." He stuck his hand across the table.

Sola gingerly shook his grimy hand, soon everything would be perfect.

* * *

><p><strong>an: I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving!**


	10. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

_Two Days Later_

**Leia **tumbled onto the sandy planet of Tatooine with Luke on her heals. From the ship they had stowed away on, a nasty togruta and her equally nasty human co-pilot hurled obscenities in their general direction before disappearing into the depths of their ship and ascending higher and higher into the atmosphere.

Luke fell on his back laughing, "That was awesome!"

She snorted and helped him up, "Are you serious? We almost got killed."

"But we didn't," he reminded, dusting the sand of his clothing, "_And _we made it to Tatooine."

"You noticed?" she smiled.

Leia's smile faded as she looked past Luke and at the endless desert surrounding them. In other circumstances, she might consider the scenery beautiful in a haunting way, but even within a minute of standing on the desert planet, the twin suns' heat was becoming overwhelming and civilization never seemed so far away.

"How does anyone live here?" Leia asked, shielding her eyes and looking as far in the distance as possible.

Luke shrugged, "More importantly, how do we find those people?"

"We start walking," she sighed.

* * *

><p><strong>"Okay<strong>, I spy…" Leia's face contorted in thought for a moment, "Something kinda blondish-brown?"

"My hair?" Luke guessed, his hair had been the spied object ten times thus far.

"Yes," she answered, "What color is your hair anyway?"

"Blondish-brown I guess," he shrugged, "My turn: I spy, something orange."

"The sand?"

"Nope!"

"The sun?"

"Which one?"

"The lower one?" Leia tried.

"That one's called 'Tatoo II', Leia," Luke said, "How many times do I have to tell you?" He was rather proud that he knew something she didn't.

"Until I remember," she said, a bit defensively, "So was I right or not?"

"No," he smirked.

"Alright, I give up!" Leia gave an exaggerated sigh, "What is it?"

"Your hair."

"I don't have orange–" she ran a hand through her sand coated hair, "Well not normally."

The children continued their treacherous walk through the seemingly endless desert. Conversation diminished until it was just the two of them observing the quiet wilderness. Luke wrinkled his brow in thought, he had a vague sense of familiarity with this planet, Leia had already commented that he seemed unfazed by the heat (which was not true, the temperature was suffocating him) and the old memories kept repeating on a loop through his mind. Storing that troubling bit of his life into the place it belonged –the back of his mind–, he spent the latter part of the time studying Leia; she had started stumbling when she took a step.

"Are you alright?" Luke adopted a concerned look.

"I'm fine," she gave him a smile, "Just tired, I mean we've been walking for four–" Leia's petite body collapsed in the sand.

"Leia!"

* * *

><p><strong>Beru <strong>Lars found herself sitting next to Shmi's grave for not the first time in the past ten years. Her mother-in-law had always been a source of comfort for the woman, with Owen always busing himself with the vaporators and Luke… gone, she had had little else to do besides cook and clean and cry: the three C's of her life. And Shmi was always there to listen to the problems she'd had today and the problems she'd surely have tomorrow, and Shmi always listened when she punished herself for letting Luke disappear like he had. Owen claimed that talking to a dead woman's grave was only a job for the insane, but Beru had caught him talking to his stepmother more than once when he thought she wasn't looking.

"I found – I found one of L-Luke's old toys," Beru started holding back tears, in her hands was a small doll, so old and worn it was hard to tell what it had once been, "I-It was just laying there, under the couch and no-no one ever f-f-found it." A small smile crossed her face, "He h-had been looking for it th-th-that day…" her voice dissolved into a sob.

Luke had been gone for nearly ten years, Owen said, the mourning period was over and it was time for them to move on, but Beru knew that she would never stop mourning for Luke. They might not have biologically related, but a curse on anyone who said she hadn't been his mother.

She was fully prepared to sit next to Shmi's grave for the rest of the day, at least until her husband returned from Anchorhead, cradling Luke's toy, when she heard a voice mumbling, "It's alright, everything's going to be fine."

Curious, Beru walked to the other side of the homestead. Standing there was a boy, cradling a girl in his arms, she was mumbling something and giggling from time to time; he looked tired and like he might faint himself, the image held a haunting similarity to the day Anakin Skywalker had brought home his mother. She wasted no time in running up to him.

"What's wrong?" she asked hurriedly, trying to take the girl from the boy's unwilling arms, "Is she hurt? Dehydrated? Come inside, I can take care of her."

Beru dashed inside with the girl in her arms and the boy close behind her, Luke's toy lay forgotten in the sand. Gently setting the girl on the couch, she bustled to the kitchen, the girl was dehydrated, but Beru had never seen such a bad case; the folks around here had the sense to bring water with them when they went out in the desert.

"Prop up her feet," she commanded the boy, as she tore through the cabinets, looking for baking soda.

After finishing the rehydration mixture, Beru hurried back to the children. The boy had dutifully propped the girl's feet up and was quaking with worry.

"Don't worry," she ordered, setting the mixture down and directing her attention on the girl, who seemed a bit more awake and had started give dry sobs. She was wearing far too much clothing for Tatooine.

After making sure the girl had all excess clothing taken off and that she had drank all of the mixture and sending the boy back for as much water as she could spare, Beru's heart could finally settle. The girl didn't seem aware of her surrounding quite yet and was hovering inches above sleep, but she wasn't disoriented anymore and the boy had stopped hyperventilating.

Resting her head against the wall, she turned to the boy. He was familiar to her, his face, his eyes… No, it couldn't be.

"I'm Beru," she said with a shaky breath, "Who are you?"

"I'm Luke," he mumbled, "And this is Leia."

There were probably millions of Luke's; Beru told herself, no need to get excited over this one. But, just maybe…**  
><strong>


	11. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 

**The **first things Leia noticed about Beru Lars were her hands.

They weren't dainty and white like her own; they were weathered and calloused from hard work and harsh conditions. They were hands that one should respect for the dedication to their life; they were hands that Leia found she was envious of.

Leia followed Beru around the homestead, trying to make herself useful to the woman for the first two days she and Luke had been trapped there, but she was about as useful as the sand that blew in when one opened the door. Leia didn't know how to cook and she could barely clean, something she had thought was easy about a week ago when she had others to do it for her. On the third day, Leia stopped following Beru after realizing she wasn't helping one bit and explored with Luke.

They were outside that day. Leia hated the desert now, the dreadful sand scratched her face when the wind blew and it got all over her clothes, not to mention the paranoia that now filled her when she looked across the empty plane. She was careful to bring a canteen full of blue milk with her whenever she stepped outside and would take sips at regular intervals; she insisted that Luke do it to.

"Aw, common Leia," Luke pushed the canteen away, "We're, like, a foot away from the house!"

She frowned, "Drink it."

He rolled his eyes, but took a swig anyway, "You happy?"

"No," Leia said, "But that helped."

Luke flopped back into the sand. "So what's your deal with Anakin Skywalker?" he asked after a minute or so of silence, "I mean, he's the reason we're here, I think I have a right to know."

"I don't know," she confessed, "I just think that he can help, and from the little I've been able to find on him, I know that he's brave and that he would help me if I asked."

"Huh."

Leia drew her legs up to her chest, "What? Not dramatic enough for you?"

"No, no," he laughed, "Actually yes, I was expecting something gut wrenching and an insight into your character."

"My 'character'? Luke, we've been traveling together for over a week, I think you know me better than anyone else in the galaxy," she smiled.

"Really? What an honor."

"Oh, shut up," she dumped a handful of sand on his stomach, "Now it's my turn to ask _you _a question."

"I expect you want to know what it's like to live with Darth Vader as your father?" the boy guessed.

"No," Leia shook her head, "I want to know about your mother."

"Oh," Luke's expression turned sullen and distant, "I don't know much about her at all."

"Common, you told me when we first met that if your father was in a good mood, he'd tell you a story about your mother, you have to know something."

"You remember that?"

"Yes," the girl said, "Can you at least tell me a teensy little detail? Like, how did your parents meet?"

"Fine, fine," he sighed, "They met on Tatooine, Mom was trying to get to Coruscant, but her ships hyperdrive was knocked out and they had land here and find a new one. They tried to find one in the junk shop where Dad worked and that's how they met."

"Wow," Leia said, "That's pretty cool actually, a lot more interesting than how my parents met, it was at some ball… I think."

Leia wanted to ask Luke more questions about his mother, but anymore at the moment could be considered nosy. It was a bit farfetched that his mother was Padmé Amidala. He had had a point though, the identity of a child's mother wasn't something any father would lie about… she hoped at least, she didn't want Luke's mother to be a mere illusion that Darth Vader had told him. If that were true, it would probably break his heart, she had seen his face when he talked of his mother; it was full of hope, love, and even devotion, all for a woman he would never meet.

"What are you doing here?" a growl startled Leia, she turned to see Owen glaring at a cloaked stranger she hadn't seen come up to the house, "You know you aren't wanted here, Kenobi!"

The cloaked stranger raised his hands in surrender when Beru ran out and pushed herself in front of her husband, "I asked him to come, he can help us." Her eyes darted towards Luke and then back at Owen.

"I don't like it," the farmer crossed her arms and stepped out of the cloaked strangers way, "But if Beru asked you to come…"

"Thank you," the stranger said with an odd accent.

"Meet, Leia," Beru pulled the girl up, "And Luke," she did likewise with the boy, though she pushed him forward, right in front of 'Kenobi'. The woman twisted her hands in her skirt and her eyes darted between the man and Luke, "Can you please tell us?"

The man pushed his hood back, revealing startling blue eyes and graying hair. "It's him," he sighed, with sadness in his eyes. He looked very much like he didn't want to tell them the truth, but that he also didn't want to hurt Beru.

Beru let out a cry, halfway between a sob and laugh and threw her arms around Luke. "Oh, I knew it! I knew it!" she said between tears and smothered him in kisses.

Owen even looked like he might cry and his expression softened considerably, though he didn't immediately reach out to Luke.

"I'm sorry," Luke tried to push the woman off him, "But who exactly am I?"

"You're Luke," Beru gave a hiccupping laugh, "You're Luke Skywalker."

"Oh."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note<strong>: And the plot thickens...

Thanks for all the nice reviews and I hope everyone has a nice holiday!


	12. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

**"Oh."**

Obi-Wan watched the boys face pale and his body crumple to the ground. He watched Beru and Owen grab him and carry him inside. He watched the girl stare at him with familiar brown eyes.

"Aren't you going to help your… friend?" he asked.

"Who are you?" the girl ignored him, she studied him skeptically with arms crossed and an angry expression on her face.

"I'm Ben," he answered, "And who… who are you?"

He desperately wished that she would reply with a name completely different than the one Beru had introduced her with, he hoped that he had just misheard the woman. Perhaps the Force was testing him–

"I'm Leia, nice to meet you Ben," she answered his fears, "But I don't think that is your name."

"Oh really?"

She tilted her head, "I am very sure that your name isn't Ben."

"And what do you think it is?"

"I don't know," she shrugged, "But you look familiar, I'll figure it out." Leia turned on her heel and hurried inside, leaving a very stunned Obi-Wan Kenobi behind.

_Dear Force, I hope she doesn't._

* * *

><p><strong>The<strong> only thing Darth Vader feared was not being able to protect Luke, especially during those first few years. And now that fear had become a reality, he had left his boy and Luke had been stolen, he hadn't been able to protect him. Why he had been taken was always at the front of Vader's mind, did the offender want to ransom the boy? No, if that were so, he would have done it almost immediately. Was this some bizarre plan of the Emperor's? Wrong, Vader knew full well that Palpatine hoped to one day try to replace him with Luke as his apprentice, something that he wouldn't be able to do with a man of questionable morals taking him away.

Vader sat in his office and watched the security holo play over and over; it was hard to see most of what was going on, his son had found a near-blind spot for the cameras. His fist would clench when he saw the smuggler, Han Solo he believed was his name, grab Luke and drag him aboard his ship.

Darth Vader hated not knowing what happened to his son, he hated not knowing why he had been taken in the first place.

The mechanical man leaned forward. My, my, he hadn't noticed _this _before.

He brought his comlink up to his helmet, "Please escort Bail Organa to my office. _Immediately_."

* * *

><p><strong>"Sola?"<strong> Han called walking into the kitchen where he expected to find the woman washing dishes or cooking, "Chewie says that the palace won't be open to the public tomorrow, so we should go now if we wanna– Where's Sola?"

The woman he found in the kitchen was not the one he planned on seeing. The new woman grabbed a frying pan, prepared to whack him over the head.

"Who are you?" her eyes narrowed and her grip on the pan became tighter.

"Hey, hey, hey," he held up his hands, "Let's put all the heavy objects down, okay sister?"

"Not until you tell me who you are," she raised the pan over her head.

"My name is Han Solo and I'm 'sposed to help Sola Naberrie find her niece and nephew," he said, reaching to take the frying pan away from her.

"Mom hired you to find Luke and Leia?" she pressed her lips together, trying to suppress a laugh.

Han frowned, insult aside, he seemed to be the only person in the entire galaxy that hadn't been aware that the kids were twins. Even Chewie knew, or at least he didn't seem surprised when he told him.

"I'm Ryoo," the woman said cautiously, "Sola's daughter."

"I see and where's your mother?"

"She went to the market," Ryoo answered, "I'm sure I can help with whatever you needed her for."

Han ran a hand through his hair, "You wouldn't happen to know the way to the palace now would yah?"

She rolled her eyes, "Of course I do, and for a bounty hunter you aren't that great at your job."

"I ain't a bounty hunter," he said through gritted teeth.

"'Am not'," Ryoo corrected.

"I _am not_ a bounty hunter," Han repeated, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "Now let's get goin'."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note<strong>: One last update before the holidays officially start.

I suppose if this was a TV show, this would be a filler episode.

(and wow _62 _reviews! thanks, it's been a lot of fun to hear back from you lovely readers!)


	13. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

**"Luke?" **

The voice, though soft, blasted away the protective barriers his subconscious had constructed; the boy's mind scrunched up as an unpleasant memory started to drip through the remains, he managed to throw it away.

"Wake up," the voice pleaded, a soft hand was placed on his forehead, accompanied by a sniff and drops of water, "Please wake up!"

Luke frowned and blinked open his eyes; he didn't want to the voice to be unhappy. He was met with the watery, brown eyes of Leia, who gave a squeal of delight when she saw that he was awake.

"Hello Leia," he croaked, his throat uncomfortably dry, "Where am I?"

"On your bed, in your room."

"We were rescued?" Luke asked hopefully, though the back of his mind reminded him that if they had been rescued, Leia wouldn't be here, in her place would be… Father. His thoughts hesitated slightly on the word, though he didn't know why.

"N-no," she pressed her lips into a thin line, her eyes filled with uncertainty, "Your new– old – room with Owen and Beru."

His eyes narrowed, "Did _you _get a room?"

"No…" Leia's lips became nearly non-existent, "I'm still sleeping on the mats…"

"Why do _I _get a room then?" the unpleasant memory trickled into his mind again, this time he didn't stop it, "Oh– oh yeah."

A dark expression consumed Luke's face as he sat up, Father wasn't Father anymore, he was a stranger now. The boy slammed his fist into the mattress; his confusion, anger and rage contorted themselves into power coursing through his veins. The objects in the room rattled and spun around in their places. He didn't care when he saw Owen and Beru's things crush into tiny, irreparable pieces; they had lied to him, he reasoned, and they needed to be punished for it.

Father had lied to him too and Father needed to be punished for it.

* * *

><p><strong>Leia <strong>watched Luke with terror, she had seen Darth Vader kill a man with the same emotions she felt radiating off her friend, but never had she seen the sheer, raw power of the Force in inexperienced hands. It was horrifying.

"Luke," she cried, but her voice was lost in the rattling of the house, it would collapse soon if he didn't stop. "Luke!" she tried again, but with no avail.

Against all instinct, Leia threw her arms around her hurting friend. She pulled him close, trying to squeeze all the darkness out of him, "Luke stop! You're a good person, don't do this!"

The noise ebbed a little and she could feel a bit of the real Luke coming through the cracks she had created in his dark shell. "I know that you're in pain," she pressed on, shouting over the powerful noise, "And I know that you're upset, but don't act out like this. Your father, he loves you, he cares about you regardless if you're his biological son or not and Owen and Beru love you too, they just wanted what they thought was best for you!

"I care about you too, Luke, it hurts me to see you like this," Leia lowered her voice as the dark power slithered away.

"I'm sorry," Luke whispered, shaking, "I'm sorry, I don't know… I don't know."

* * *

><p><strong>Emperor <strong>Palpatine sat in his office, musing about the dullness of the day, being ruler of the galaxy was rather boring when there was nothing, but angry senators to deal with. Of course he would never give up his occupation without a good fight to the death, that would be foolish obviously, no one in their right mind would evergive up power. The thought of it made the emperor wheeze with glee, _If only the galaxy were that simple._

The bizarre laugh was cut across by a powerful spark of the Force, so strong that it might've stopped Palpatine's black, crumbly heart had it been even a smidge closer. This spark entranced the Sith lord, the unmistakable stench of Skywalker was dripping all over it.

Vader had been lying it seemed, Palpatine gave a frog-like smile that looked like it would crack his face into multiple pieces, the boy was immensely powerful.

As quickly as the spark had jumped into the galaxy, it was quickly replaced by a growing sensation of… love. Palpatine's face contorted into disgust, love was the bane of the galaxy, only the weak ever felt such a frivolous emotion. Love was a distraction, a disgusting blemish that needed to be zapped off the face of society, but love was also a tool, the emperor reminded himself, it was easy to manipulate and contort.

"Oh, Vader," Palpatine gave a croaky laugh, "Only your son would be so foolish."


	14. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

**What **was worse? Traveling with Ryoo, or traveling with her mother, Sola?

Han wouldn't know which was the worst choice because he was traveling with both of them. At the royal palace, a security guard had told them that he had seen two muddy children muttering about Tatooine, that was a good enough lead and Han would have been just fine leaving right then, but Ryoo insisted that they bring her mother along.

And that was why Han was sitting in front of two women who apparently didn't understand the concept of 'the quiet game'. Sola was insistent to tell him the _entire _history of her sister and Ryoo would start to jabber about… well she started to talk about something, Han had stopped listening when they got to 'Padmé's Second Term as Queen', which was about two days ago give or take.

The constant chitchat was finally broken by a roar from Chewbacca (who, surprisingly, had been _enjoying _the company) announcing their arrival in Mos Espa in about ten minutes. Han was eternally grateful for the few moments of complete silence.

"Okay," Han began his orientation after they touched down, "Tatooine isn't like Naboo, the folks here won't be afraid to rough you up, watch your step, follow my lead, and, above all, don't say a word unless I tell you so."

The mother and daughter nodded, they were more than happy to comply with his instructions; they had never been here before after all.

* * *

><p><strong>Sola <strong>took her first, determined steps off the _Millennium Falcon. _She was confident, she held herself high amongst the slouching civilians, and she felt like she could do anything she set her mind to. She was going to get the twins back, they were the only connection to her sister that hadn't been severed by the cruel hands of death, they had been living a lie, they needed to know that they had an actual family, not father's who were merely pretending.

Han lead the miniscule procession into a gritty cantina and sat them all down in a shadowy, corner booth. The smuggler then left to ask around about a couple of kids that they might've seen, Sola now felt completely useless, she didn't belong in a place like this, she didn't know how to act around all these… ruffians, and how in the world did she think she would be able to help the search for her niece and nephew when she didn't even understand a good two-thirds of what the locals were saying?

The middle-aged woman rest her head on the table and immediately thought better of it, it probably hadn't been cleaned in a long while. Fear flashed through her as she saw Han leading a female togruta through the crowd.

"This is Mal," he introduced the rough looking woman as the two of them sat down, "She says that she's seen Luke and Leia."

Sola's interest peaked, "Really? Where? When?"

The togruta kicked her legs up on the table, nearly whacking Ryoo in the head, "'Bout three days ago, give er take, the twerps stole away on my ship, I woulda thrown 'em out the airlock, but I didn't find 'em 'til we were already within the atmosphere."

"What did you do with them?" Ryoo asked fearfully, thinking the worst just like her mother.

Mal shrugged, "Threw 'em into the Dune Sea, little chance they survived, few people do, what with the Sand People–"

"Thank you Mal," Han cut across and tried to push her out of the booth.

"Hey, hey, hey," her hand flicked to her blaster, "I believe you owe me somethin' in return for the information."

The smuggler rolled his eyes, "Whad'ya want?"

Mal eyes each of them up and down, "Not carryin' much are ya'? Humph, I 'spose I'll just take this." She plucked the turquoise bracelet off of Ryoo's wrist, "Gotta be worth somethin'." Without further ado, the togruta unceremoniously spat into a nearby spittoon and flounced away, cheerfully inspecting her new trinket.

"That bitch!" Ryoo snarled, "Dad gave that to me as a graduation present!"

Han shrugged, "Shoulda known better than to walk into a place like this with jewelry."


End file.
